The US newspaper, Politico, quoted two Ukrainian officials as saying that the explosions that rocked a Russian military airport in Crimea - which Moscow had forcibly annexed - marked the beginning of the Ukrainian counter-offensive in the south, and a decisive new phase of the war that may determine its final outcome.
On Tuesday, a series of explosions occurred at a Russian air base in the Crimea.
Eyewitnesses told Reuters that they heard at least 12 explosions and saw smoke rising from the direction of the Russian military air base in Novedorivka, in western Crimea.
Moscow played down the significance of the explosions, saying they were caused by the accidental detonation of munitions stored at the airport.
Politico said that the Ukrainian Defense Ministry timidly denied responsibility for the bombings, and warned of the dangers of smoking around explosives, but the Ukrainian officials who spoke to the newspaper confirmed Kyiv's responsibility for the bombings.
The two Ukrainian officials - who preferred not to reveal their names - indicated that these explosions indicate that the counter-attack launched by the Ukrainian forces in recent weeks to regain the city of Kherson in the south of the country is now proceeding in an aggressive manner.
The newspaper quoted a statement by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky saying that "the Russian war on Ukraine and on the whole of free Europe began in the Crimea, and must end in the Crimea through its liberation."
Politico's report indicates that a successful strike on a military target behind Russian lines, especially in the Crimea, which is extremely important to the Kremlin, is very embarrassing for Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is likely to see the attack as a dangerous escalation and a blow to the morale of his forces.
critical stage
Commenting on the event, the Center for the Study of War, an American think tank that tracks the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, said, “The Kremlin has no incentive to accuse Ukraine of carrying out strikes that caused damage (to its military base) because those The strikes prove the ineffectiveness of Russia's air defense systems."
Asked by Politico whether the Crimean explosions could be seen as the beginning of a Ukrainian counter-attack in the south, a Ukrainian official - who preferred not to be identified - answered in the affirmative, adding, "You can say that this is the counter-attack in the south." .
The newspaper quoted another Ukrainian official as saying that the current months of August and next September will be "very important" from a military perspective, and may determine the final outcome of the war.
The official warned that the intensity of the fighting in the aforementioned two months might be similar to the intensity of the fighting at the beginning of the war last February, but he refused to disclose details related to this assessment, citing the requirements of military secrecy.